Harlem Globetrotter drops by WTOP’s newsroom

WASHINGTON – If your bracket’s busted and you can’t bear to keep track of the NCAA basketball tournament any longer, how about taking your mind off it — with more basketball?

The Harlem Globetrotters bring their 2012 world tour this weekend to Washington, D.C., home of the perennially hapless Washington Generals.

“It may not be the Generals. You’ll have to come out and see. We’re trying to change things up in 2012,” says Herbert “Flight Time” Lang, now playing his 13th season with the 86-year-old exhibition squad.

“Flight Time” entered the Glass Enclosed Nerve Center to drop some hints as to what basketball lovers can expect if they check out the show — or shows — next Sunday and Monday at Verizon Center and Patriot Center.

For starters, he says the Globies will be playing a surprise team.

“I’m not going to say their name, but they’ve got a bunch of good players and every night it’s been super competitive. But you know what happens in the end,” says Flight Time.

He’s referring to the team’s legendary winning streak. According to the team’s Wikipedia page, it’s been almost six years since the Globetrotters lost a game, and they play a schedule that makes the NBA’s lockout-compressed 66-game season look like small potatoes.

The Globetrotters will play a daytime matinee Saturday at 1 p.m. at Verizon Center, and a nightcap at the Patriot Center in Fairfax at 7:30 p.m. They’ll return to the Patriot Center for a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.

“It’s funny to me when I watch ESPN and I listen to them complain about the schedule and playing three games in a row. We do it all the time, so it’s really funny to me, but I guess it’s not what they’re used to,” Flight Time says.

Of course, the Globetrotters’ games have a flashier element of playfulness than the typical NBA game, with basketballs spinning on fingers, upside-down dunks, behind-the-back dribbles, 4-point shots (definitely not regulation!) and fun with fans young and old in the stands.

“D.C. is always one of our favorite places to come and play, and we’re just looking forward to a good weekend,” says Flight Time.